Myanmar, Yangon
—
Opinion polls began in Myanmar on Sunday, with the junta insisting it would restore democratic rule, nearly five years after it seized power from an elected government in the start of a controversial election and sparked a brutal civil war it has yet to win.
The country’s most popular politician, Aung San Suu Kyi, languishes in prison, and her most successful political party has dissolved. The vote was dominated by parties seen as close to the military, and hundreds of people were arrested under a new law that criminalizes interfering with, obstructing or criticizing the vote.
And as the military government continues to battle a patchwork of ethnic rebels and pro-democracy activists in the hilly borderlands and arid central plains, there are areas across the country where voting is not being held.
A year ago, these groups inflicted a series of defeats on the military. Many opponents briefly dreamed that the generals might be overthrown, ending their decades-long domination of the country’s politics and economy.
But this year, the junta’s forces, strengthened by tens of thousands of soldiers conscripted under a new conscription law and backed by new Chinese weapons, reclaimed territory.
Analysts said this gave the junta room to vote, and the generals hope the new parliament, with a quarter of the seats reserved for the military, will convince parts of the international community to re-engage with Myanmar after years in the post-coup wilderness.
“Last election, I was more excited to vote because I had the freedom to choose,” said Sue, an accountant identified by CNN by her first name.
This time, it became impossible to even cast a protest vote.
In previous elections, people could have left their ballots empty, Hsu said. But this time, she said, electronic vote-counting machines were only accepting ballots marked with votes for political parties, all of which had been approved by the military-backed election commission.
“The military election is first and foremost an opportunity to correct what was seen as an unacceptable outcome five years ago when the opposition National League for Democracy won a second term in a landslide,” Richard Horsey, a Myanmar adviser at the International Crisis Group, told CNN.
“What’s really important is that countries don’t lend undue support or legitimacy to these elections,” he added. “They need to be seen for what they are: a cynical act to perpetuate military power.”
In Yangon, Myanmar’s commercial capital, national flags lined the main roads leading into the city, and state media broadcast footage of the vote. The voting will be held in three stages until January, with Sunday being the first day of voting.
The military junta leadership has made it clear who they think the people should vote for.
State media reported that Senate General Min Aung Hlaing, who led the 2021 coup, used the Burmese word for military and called on voters to choose a candidate “who can sincerely cooperate with the Tatmadaw.”
While Myanmar is experimenting with a more open democracy, the atmosphere was noticeably calmer than in previous elections in the past decade. Suu Kyi, who for decades was the standard bearer of Myanmar’s democracy struggle, has disappeared from billboards and state media coverage.
The Nobel Peace Prize winner, who turns 80 this year, has been detained since the coup and is currently serving a 27-year prison sentence after being convicted by a junta court on a series of charges that critics say are aimed at removing her from politics.
The brand of nonviolent resistance that once made Suu Kyi famous has been largely forgotten as the civil war rages on since the coup.
Meanwhile, the military continues its relentless attacks on enemy countries.
UN investigators and human rights organizations have collected evidence of systematic human rights violations by the military against both combatants and civilians since the coup.
Tom Andrews, the UN special rapporteur on Myanmar, told CNN: “The situation is bad. The situation is actually getting significantly worse.”
“Myanmar’s humanitarian crisis is significantly worsening,” he said, adding that the junta was cutting off access to aid as medical facilities were under attack.
The military has been recorded in bloody insurrections, burning and bombing villages, massacring residents, imprisoning opponents, and forcing young men and women to join the army.
Myanmar’s military junta has repeatedly denied atrocities and said it was targeting “terrorists”.
Critics also question how fair the elections will be if those who oppose the military face harsh consequences.
“You cannot have a free and fair election if you arrest, detain, torture and execute rebels, even though it is illegal to criticize the military or criticize the election,” Andrews said, adding that the poll was “nothing short of a fraud.”
The junta claims the purpose of the elections is to “build a genuine and disciplined multiparty democratic system and a coalition based on democracy and federalism.”
He also dismissed international criticism of the poll.
According to Reuters, junta spokesman Zaw Myint Hun said on December 14: “The elections are being held for the people of Myanmar, not for the international community.”
“It doesn’t matter whether the international community is satisfied or not.”
The military seized power in February 2021, alleging massive fraud in an election won by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD). International observers at the time said the polls were largely free and fair.
A brutal crackdown on peaceful protests has sent thousands of mostly young people into ethnic rebel-held areas in the jungles and hills of Myanmar’s border region.
So they formed the People’s Defense Forces, which specialized in overthrowing coups.
Armed with limited, sometimes homemade weapons, they initially surprised the enemy with their effectiveness and dragged the army into a bloody stalemate.
Since then, nearly five years of conflict has devastated Myanmar, which is wedged between China and India and at one time was one of the region’s fastest-growing economies.
According to the United Nations, more than 3 million people have been forced to flee their homes. Tens of thousands of young people have fled abroad or to rebel-held areas to avoid conscription.
Crime and vice flourished in the chaos. According to the United Nations, Myanmar is now the world’s largest producer of methamphetamine and illicit opium.
And new criminal enterprises are thriving in territories controlled by countless armed groups. It’s a fraud facility where thousands of human trafficked workers scam people around the world out of billions of dollars.
The March earthquake intensified the suffering of many people, caused widespread chaos and deepened an already severe aid crisis.
Chinese and Russian supporters
The United States and most Western countries have never recognized the junta as Myanmar’s legitimate government, and the election has been condemned by several governments in the region, including Japan and Malaysia.
Russia and China have long been Myanmar’s biggest supporters, and both have spoken favorably about the election. Thailand and India are seeking further engagement with Myanmar’s generals to end the border crisis.
China has used its economic power to pressure rebel groups holding territory along its borders and shut down land routes for trade and people.
Meanwhile, a Chinese government envoy mediated the return of rebel-held territory to military junta control, including the Mogok gem and ruby mining hub.
Voting will be held in three stages, the second on January 11th and the third on January 25th. It is not clear when the results will be announced.
In the run-up to the vote, UN human rights monitors said violence, repression and intimidation had escalated in Myanmar, with civilians being threatened by both military authorities and armed opposition groups.
“There are no conditions for exercising the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly, and they do not enable people to participate freely and meaningfully,” said Volker Türk, head of the UN human rights chief.
David Matheson, an independent Myanmar analyst, told CNN that the composition of the new government “will be of interest to observers to a certain extent.” “But the military is incapable of doing anything other than superficial changes that do not threaten its core interests of central control.”
Many Myanmar citizens say there is little point in voting.
Ko Win, who CNN is not identifying by his full name, said he voted in the 2015 and 2020 elections, where the NLD won easily.
“This election is different from previous elections, but I don’t want to say why,” he told CNN after voting in downtown Yangon. “I hope that this election will be the beginning of a solution to this extremely difficult situation.”
Many other voters either declined to be interviewed by CNN or showed little preference.
“As a civilian in a conflict zone, I see no point in holding this election,” Mo, a 25-year-old teacher who asked that her full name not be used, said from a camp for displaced people in Kayah state, one of the hotbeds of resistance to military rule.
“This election is unfair and will ultimately be a sham election.”
